Boulders Beach with Kids: What to See, How Long to Allow and Whether It Is Worth It
The short answer. Yes, and it is one of the easiest wildlife stops in South Africa for a family. The boardwalk is flat, fenced and pushchair-friendly, the birds are a few metres away, and children aged 2 to 11 pay a reduced conservation fee. The thing to get right is the length of the day: a five-hour half day works far better than a ten-hour peninsula run.
Most wildlife in South Africa is seen through a window at distance. Boulders is the opposite: a short flat walk that ends with a two-kilogram seabird standing three metres from your five-year-old. It converts children who were promised a beach and expected boredom. The question is not whether to go but which shape of day to book, and the Boulders Beach guided tours differ on that more than on price.
Is it worth it for a family? Yes, for four reasons
- The walk is flat. A raised timber boardwalk with ramps, not steps, from the gate to the colony.
- The animals are close. No binoculars, no patience required, no waiting in a vehicle.
- It is short. Fifteen minutes end to end, an hour with stops, which is about the attention a small child has.
- There is a beach afterwards. The cove at Boulders Beach is shallow, calm and swimmable.
What children actually notice
The noise, first. In breeding season the colony brays, and it is not a sound your children will expect from a bird. Then the walking: penguins move along the sand and across the paths you walk on, and the fact that they are unbothered by an audience is what holds attention. Chicks appear through the breeding season from February to August, which is the fullest the beach gets.
The months to be careful about are September and October, when most adults are at sea and the beach thins. If the trip is built around a child seeing penguins, check the best time to visit before you fix dates.
Pushchairs, ramps and the cove
The Foxy Beach boardwalk is the accessible route, and your pushchair rolls along it without trouble. The swimming cove at Boulders Beach is not: it is reached by steps and sand, so one of you carries or one of you stays up top. Which gate leads where is set out on where Boulders Beach is.
There are toilets and a small shop at the visitor centre by the Foxy Beach entrance, and nothing at all on the boardwalk itself. Use them on the way in.
The fee for children
A child aged 2 to 11 pays a reduced conservation fee at the gate and under-2s go free. The gate is cashless, so one card covers the family. The current figures and the four sets of seasonal hours are on hours, fees and access.
Half day against full day, for a family
This is the decision that makes or breaks the outing.
| Half day | Full day | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 5–6 hours | 8–10 hours |
| At the colony | 1–2 hours | About 1 hour |
| Also sees | Chapman's Peak, one or two stops | Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope, both coasts |
| Lunch | Back in the city for it | Often late in the day |
| Suits | Under-8s, and anyone napping in the afternoon | Older children who like a long drive |
A ten-hour day with a late lunch is a great deal to ask of a six-year-old, however good the penguins are. The full comparison, including the private cars, is on the tour options page.
Rules children need explaining first
The other one is food. An open packet brings gulls straight down onto the nests, so anything edible stays in the bag until you are back at the car. More of this is on visitor tips.
What to tell a child before you go
Two sentences do most of the work. The first is that these are wild birds that live here, not animals in a zoo, so they decide how close they come. The second is that the boardwalk is their roof: walking on it is fine, stepping off it is not, because the nests are underneath the plants either side. Children take both of those better than adults expect.
It also helps to give them something to look for. The pink patch above the eye, the chicks in breeding season, the bird that always seems to be arguing with its neighbour. A child with a job watches for twenty minutes; a child without one has finished in five.
How your day is likely to go
On a half day you will be collected between about seven and eight, reach the boardwalk in the first quiet hour, spend one or two hours there, stop somewhere on the coast road, and be back in the city for lunch. That is a shape a young child can hold. On a full day you will be out for eight to ten hours, reach the colony in the afternoon, and eat late.
Whichever you choose, put the swim at the end rather than the beginning: the cove is a better reward than a preamble, and nobody walks a boardwalk happily in a wet costume. Where the cove is in relation to the boardwalk is on where Boulders Beach is.
What else fills the day
Simon's Town's main street is five minutes up the road, with places to eat and a naval museum. The tidal pool at Seaforth is inside the same reserve, shallow enough for your smallest swimmer. Further back towards the city are the painted bathing huts at Muizenberg and the tidal pool at St James, both of which most guided days pass.
Private or shared, with children
A private car costs more and buys the one thing families need most: the ability to stop when somebody needs to. Some of the private fares here are priced per car for up to four travellers, which changes the sum for a family of four. Shared vehicles run from twelve seats to a sixty-seat coach, and the smaller ones wait for nobody less patiently than the larger ones.
If your budget says shared, take the smallest vehicle you can and the shortest day you can, and check the vehicle size on the card before you pay. Getting there in the first place is on how to get to Boulders Beach.
Before you book
Work out the length of day your children will actually enjoy, then match it to a fare. Every card prints the hours, the vehicle size and the time at the colony, on Boulders Beach Tours.
Travelling with small children? Start with the shortest days and the smallest vehicles — these three are the ones families book.
Shorter days that work with children
Penguin Encounter Boulders Beach Half Tour Day from Cape Town
Two hours at the colony on a five-hour run, the longest stop here.
From $39 per person
Check Availability
Half Day Boulders Penguins and Cape Point Small Group Tour
Five to six hours: the colony, the Cape of Good Hope and Chapman's Peak.
From $54 per person
Check Availability
Cape Peninsula Full Day Tour in Private Car
One fare for the car, up to four travellers, six to nine hours.
From $300 per group, up to 4
Check Availability